after a water main break. crews spent the night working on a six-inch line. the water main break caused the road to buckle, and that created minor flooding. the cause is under investigation, but it could be an old pipe that burst. 4:30 is our time. want to turn to storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. i got off amtrak yesterday afternoon with a fleece on. >> a fleece on? >> a fleece, and it was so not the right wardrobe for yesterday afternoon. >> short sleeves. people were wearing shorts and flip-flops, tom. >> where did you come from, the north pole? >> not quite. >> welcome back, aaron. good to have you with us. it was feeling like summer yesterday afternoon, and here we go again, another touch of summer on the way. there is a chill in the air. we do have clouds moving in from the west. there are a few sprinkles showing up on storm team 4 radar there. those little areas of light green in the mounmountains, but don't think the clouds will hold

together as we move east. right now low 50s to mid-50s across most of northern virginia, maryland, right into the chesapeake bay, it's near the 60s. and right around 60 in the district of columbia. a mild morning there. still on the chilly side to cool side. frederick just 50 degrees. and culpeper 52. so's manassas and prince william county. charles county in the 50s. la plata at 55. storm team 4, hour by hour, a rapid warmup and a little cloudiness around and just a slight chance of a sprinkle through noon time with the clouds coming through. going to be mild. after that, the clouds should break up a little bit by later this afternoon. a little sunshine breaking out and soaring to near 80 degrees by midafternoon.

sunrise this morning at 7:27. sunset at 6:17. and it does look like we will have this mild pattern changing. i'll have details on that coming up in just a few minutes. and big changes coming our way and the latest on tropical storm sandy. will she affect us? i'll be keeping you posted on that coming up. now with danella, here's the latest on traffic. i'm still watching the situation northbound i-95 at centreport parkway. all lanes are blocked. right now you are getting by in the shoulder lane. avoid that area. take route 1 to courthouse road, and then you can connect back to i-95 northbound and avoid those delays for now. hopefully, that accident should be in the process of cleaning up. let's head to route 4 northbound between the beltway and westphilia road where a water main break is blocking the left lane.

and i-66 crash in the left shoulder lane. it is eastbound 66 at 50. just the right shoulder lane is blocked. travel lanes are open. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> it is now 4:32. melissa mollet is at the live desk with breaking news. militants in the gaza strip fired dozens of rockets into southern israel. take a look at the video we just got into the news room. it shows damage to one house. air raid siren sounded this morning after more than 30 rockets and mortars landed. israeli military says the aircraft struck gaza twice in retaliation. one palestinian militant was killed. we are now less than two weeks away from election day, and the candidates are in an all out sprint to the finish line. president obama and mitt romney flying across the country today. they've got campaign stops in the states that could determine the election. today the president will make stops in iowa's quad cities area and denver. he will later fly to l.a. for an

appearance on "the tonight show" before heading to vegas. mitt romney will campaign in reno. the republican presidential nominee making stops in cedar rapids, iowa, and end the day in cincinnati. he'll make three stops in ohio. both candidates kicked off the final stretch with their running mates. president obama kicked off in florida before meeting up with vice president joe biden in ohio. mitt romney visited colorado and nevada with paul ryan. >> this is a status quo candidacy, going forward with the same policies of the last four years. that's why his campaign is slipping, and ours is gaining so much steam. >> you can choose a foreign policy that's reckless and wrong, or you can choose the foreign polic that joe and i have been applying that's steady and strong. you can choose to turn back the clock 50 years for women and immigrants and gays, or you can say in this election we believe

that everybody's got a place in america. >> the campaigns have spent nearly $1 billion on tv ads during this election in addition to all these speeches. the candidates getting plenty of voters' attention with those ads. more than 59 million people watched the third and final debate on tv. that is the smallest audience for any of this year's debate. it is more than five times the number of people who watched the bears beat the lions on monday night football and more than seven times the number of viewers for baseball's major league championship series. if there was any doubt how important virginia is in this election, a blitz of the state by both candidates proves just how critical it is. president obama and mitt romney and both running mates will make a total of eight stops in the state over the next four years. the president kicks off with a rally in richmond tomorrow. and sunday romney will make three stops in richmond, hay market, and virginia beach.

vice president biden and paul ryan will make two stops in the commonwealth. some voters in maryland who are using absentee ballots aren't getting a complete ballot. one voter was missing a whole page of referendum questions that included issues like question 6 on gay marriage and question 7 on gambling. they confirmed there are a small number of ballots missing pages in montgomery and prince george's counties. if you haven't voted, you can call for a new ballot. today tim kaine will reach out to jewish voters in northern virginia. he'll have lunch at the jewish community center in fairfax. george allen visited the jcc on monday. recent polls show this race coming down to the wire, and it's one of the most expensive senate races this year. mitt romney is distancing himself from a comment an

indiana republican senate candidate made about rape. >> i struggled for a long time, and i came to realize that life is a gift from god. and even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, it's something that god intended to happen. >> that is richard murdoch during a senate debate. a romney campaign spokesperson said the gop presidential nominee disagrees with murdoch's statement. a new ad started running in indiana featuring romney giving his support to murdoch. the number of suspected meningitis cases in virginia linked to that tainted steroid shot is rising. 41 cases have been reported, and that includes 3 cases in west virginia. nearly 700 people received the steroid shots made at the massachusetts pharmacy and outpatient medical center in roanoke and cristiansburg. the clinics are still working to contact everyone who received that shot. in the meantime, massachusetts health investigators found unsanitary

conditions inside the pharmacy linked to the outbreak that includes visible black specks of fungus in the steroids. 23 people have died, more than 300 people nationwide have been infected. the governor is ordering surprise inspections of the state's compounding pharmacies at least once a year to try to stop something like this from happening again. a women is still in the hospital this morning after leading virginia and maryland police on a high speed chase. 27-year-old angela cubbold was driving at least 90 miles an hour on interstate 66. officers tried to stop her, but she kept going all the way to the naval support facility in bethesda. she was chewing on a bar of soap while driving. there she and a security officer opened fire at each other. neither was hit. the chase was eventually ended when cobbold crashed near a construction zone. police have not charged her with anything. ahead on "news 4 today," the

push for local parents to get their kids a little more sleep before school.

welcome back. they say everything's bigger in texas, and that includes the speed limit.

today a new toll road with an 85-mile-per-hour speed limit opens in the lone star state. supporters say it offers an alternative to congested roads and is safe as long as drivers follow the rules. some say 85 miles an hour isn't safe for any driver. police say the speed doesn't worry them, but the highway runs through a rural area causing potential accidents with wildlife. if you're going 85 miles an hour and you hit anything -- >> it is going to be a problem. but i understand it's a relatively -- >> open stretch. >> low volume area. >> it could be fun if you like speed. >> not fun, eun. it's efficient. >> all right. >> let's get a look at the forecast. tom kierein's in the storm center. >> beautiful picture from the hd city camera. weather and traffic on the ones early this wednesday morning. we have clouds closing in from the west. they're producing a few sprinkles this morning. there's a slight chance we could get a few of those later this

morning. la plata, charles county, by 7:00 a.m., up in the 60s. mid-70s by noon. hour by hour forecast, should be a warm afternoon. high temperatures up around 80 degrees. record temperature around reagan national 84. might not make it that high with the cloud cover. a look at the weekend and sandy coming up in ten minutes. still covering breaking news on i-95. if you're traveling northbound in the stafford area, all the northbound lanes are blocked at centreport parkway. what you're doing is you can get by but only in the shoulder lane. you are seeing delays as you make your way northbound in this area. i would take the alternate route of route 1 and take that to courthouse road and reconnect to i-95. here's video we shot early this morning. crews have i-95, the northbound lanes blocked in this lane.

you can see how vdot has the arrows pointing to you to take the shoulder lane. i would avoid delays at this time, and i would just use route 1 as an alternate route. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. it is now 4:43. 64 degrees. still to come, we're keeping an eye on tropical storm sandy as it moves towards the east coast. >> plus the proposal for one

a 39-year-old man is dead following a shark attack off the coast of southern california. police say the victim was surfing in southern california when a shark bit him. a friend was able to drag him out of the water, but he died before paramedics got there. there were no shark warning signs posted in that area, but police say shark sightings are not rare in that area. the powerful storm sandy is

expected to strengthen into a category 1 hurricane today. computer models show the system will cut right over kingston, jamaica, and resort areas. the tropical storm is already drudging parts of jamaica with steady rain. people are already boarding up homes and stocking up on supplies. the storm is not expected to pose a threat to the gulf of mexico. hurricane season ends november 30th. a fast moving wildfire is threatening hundreds of homes in colorado. deputies in custer county west of pueblo are evacuating more than 300 homes. firefighters say it started yesterday at one home and quickly spread to nearby brush. winds up to 80 miles an hour helped fan the flames. lower winds today could help firefighters gain control of this fire. 13 before the hour right now. a prince george's county family said the punishment should be more severe for a teenager convicted of killing his 2-year-old foster sister. a judge sentenced the boy to a therapeutic group home instead

of a juvenile detention center, pointing out the boy did not understand the severity of his actions. he avoided jail time by pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter. the boy beat his foster sister anaya bachelor to death back in july. >> i understand he was 12, but i don't think justice was served on our behalf. his placement should have been a little more stricter, somewhere away from home, that he can get his help. what they just gave him, it's right in the community. he's still at the same schools and all, and i don't think that was fair. >> the judge also ordered the boy be placed in a home with no one under the age of 18. a former university of virginia lacrosse player convicted in the death of his ex-girlfriend will serve his sentence in a remote part of south western virginia. george huguely was assigned to the keane mountain correctional

center in oakwood. he was convicted in the beating death of yeardley love in 2010. his release date is 2030. attorneys are appealing his conviction. some of the road signs you see on the way to work will soon be gone. road crews are removing hundreds of signs from medians and state roads in maryland. many of those signs were placed there illegally. this has nothing to do with politics either. the highway administration will also remove any illegal commercial signs. some of the signs removed from those roadways are for or against the maryland d.r.e.a.m. act. last night hundreds of people packed this silver spring church to offer their support for the law, which would allow immigrants living in maryland to pay instate tuition regardless of their immigration status. marylanders will vote on the d.r.e.a.m. act next month. a recent "washington post" poll found that 59% of maryland voters do support the d.r.e.a.m. act. as the d.c. council gets ready to decide on new

regulations for food trucks, they'll have a chance to sample local cuisine right outside their offices. the director of the d.c. food trucks association says this is not a political issue, just a chance to serve good food. the potential regulations could restrict where food trucks are allowed to operate. it may be several months before you can check out a new costco in wheaton. the store was scheduled to open last week, but during a recent earnings report obtained by "the washington post," the company's chief financial officer said the opening would be pushed back to march or april of next year. the company did say the delay is not related to a fight over the gas station planned for the site. the station had to be moved after complaints by residents that it was too close to a swim and tennis club. there is new effort this morning calling for a later start time for montgomery county high schools. so far, more than 5,000 people have signed mandy mader's online

petition to push back the start time for schools to 8:15 or later so students can get more sleep. county high schools now start at 7:25 a.m. sleeping in the classroom is a problem. this is studied nationally too, and it hits close to home. mader says a later start time would make sure students do better in class. >> one hour could make a huge difference in terms of their immune system, car crashes, attendance. >> then it becomes do we hire bus drivers or hire teachers? where do you want to spend the money? >> mader says she plans to formally introduce the petition to the school board next month. we want to know what you think. should schools have a later start time? high schools in particular here. let us know on our "news 4 today" facebook page. in recent years there had been studies that show less sleep has a more adverse impact on high schoolers than adults and that sort of thing.

so it can help the argument. >> kids that age have so much homework in terms of sporting events, extracurricular activities, and so much time to begin with. 4:51. time for weather and traffic on the ones. >> storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. tom? get ready for a summer-like day coming up. right now there's a chill in the air. storm team 4 satellite and radar image showing the green west of us. those are a few sprinkles out of the mountains of eastern west virginia and western maryland. ahead of that, all these areas in the dark green are in the 50s. 50s throughout most of maryland and virginia. it's near 60 in washington. montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's counties. most locations in the mid-50s. here's the latest on tropical storm sandy. it is still south of jamaica, about 150 miles south of jamaica, and it does look like it's going to be can ttracking s jamaica, become a hurricane later today and track over cuba. it has winds of 70 miles an

hour, and it is going to be taking a general track north for the next couple of days and maybe move northeast after that. what happens after that may be coming right along the atlantic seaboard and affecting us. so stay tuned. we'll keep you posted. that wouldn't happen until sunday in the next week. 6:00 a.m. temperatures still in the 50s to near 60 for your lunch hour. a lot of clouds around. just the slight chance of a sprinkle later this morning. low to mid-70s. during the afternoon, around 80 degrees. as we go forward toward the weekend, beautiful day tomorrow, friday a lot of clouds around, near 70. and sandy may affect us with rain and wind sunday, monday, tuesday. stay tuned. we'll keep you up on that. now, how's traffic. good morning, danella. >> good morning, tom. still keeping an eye on breaking news along the i-95 northbound in stafford. the earlier crash still blocking all of your northbound lanes. you are able to get by in the shoulder lane at centreport parkway. you are able to get around, but just one shoulder lane will get

you around the accident. i would avoid that now. alternate route is take route 1 to courthouse road. and from courthouse road, you can connect to i-95 northbound once again. let's head over to the beltway to talk about road work. the inner loop of the beltway at i-66, road work was set up on the right side of the roadway. you are able to get by on the left side. along i-66, still seeing accident activity but just in the right shoulder lane. your travel lanes are open as you head eastbound past 50. i'm back in ten minutes. eun and aaron, back over to you. >> 4:54. d.c. council members are closer to allowing driverless cars in the district. the obama administration also announced yesterday it's launching an initiative to research the safety and reliability of driverless vehicles. google has sent one of its prototypes around the district earlier this year. california, nevada, and florida have already allowed driverless

cars on their streets. a proposal for bike lanes in d.c. causing another problem to flare up again. the latest proposal to add bike lanes to northwest. about 40% of cyclists are disobeying traffic signals with a lot of them running red lights. cyclists need to follow the rules just like drivers. a few bikers are ruining things for the rest of them. >> there's a lot of bikers who don't know what they're doing, and they can give us all a bad name. >> bicycles are great. bicycle lanes are great. how about you ticket them when they don't use them? >> you're saying that some people just don't follow the rules? >> i'm saying a whole lot of bicyclists don't follow the rules. >> amen. i'm on board with that one. another issue to the driver/cyclist battle, these new bike lanes on "l" street mean parking spots would have to go away. he makes a point, if you run a red light on a bicycle, if i have to get a ticket driving, you should get one on a bike.

>> 4:55 is your time now. an unwanted makeover coming up at 5:15. one department store's new look for minnie mouse that's causing an uproar.

barnes and noble is warning customers to check their bank accounts after a series of hacking. someone tampered with the pin pads used to swipe debit and credit cards in 63 stores in nine states. barnes and noble didn't find evidence of hacking in its d.c., maryland, and virginia stores, but it did find it at stores nationwide. the cost of higher learning is getting higher as well. state tuition at public universities climbed $400 this fall. the college board calls the 5% increase modest compared to years past. on average, tuition runs about $8,600 with room and board averaging that are more than $17,000. the college board shows only about one-third of full-time students pay that published price. the baby panda at the san diego zoo still does not hav